


The French Ex - A Mistake

by justlittleoldunkillableme (AmbecaWatson)



Series: The Family Dinners [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Established Relationship, Jealous Dean, M/M, Past Balthazar/Castiel, communication issues, happy end
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-31
Updated: 2014-01-31
Packaged: 2018-01-10 17:09:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1162334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmbecaWatson/pseuds/justlittleoldunkillableme
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Castiel meets an old boyfriend</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“I just can’t do it”, Dean said to Cas with finality in his voice and let the door fall into the lock behind him. It was summer and Dean had planned to take Cas for a vacation as long as he was on semester break. What he hadn’t planned on was that someone else decided to take a vacation as well and had turned up on their doorstep just to wreck everything between them.  
He got in the Impala and started driving without looking back. If a quiet single tear fell on his cheek, it was a secret he would never tell anyone. Dean drove all night not knowing whether he and Cas would ever be alright again. He thought back of a week ago, when he had just finished a research project with his department of inventive mechanical engineering and had gotten home to Cas to tell him that his colleagues had almost talked him into giving a lecture course in the next semester, but as soon as he came through the door he saw Cas making himself even prettier than usual with a new suit on and was on his way to go out.  
“Wow, Cas, to what do I owe the honour of you suiting up? Do you want to take me somewhere fancy?”  
“Uh, hello Dean”, said Cas rather uncomfortably, “I thought you wouldn’t home home just yet. I’m actually meeting someone tonight, so…” he let his speech trail off and turned rather red.  
“A client?”  
“No, uhm, I’m meeting Balthazar.” said Cas getting even more red.  
“Balthazar as in your Bouillabaisse-spitting hussy French Ex, Balthazar?”  
“Uh, yes. He is in town and wanted to meet, for old time’s sake, I shouldn’t be too long” said Cas.  
Dean felt as if he’d been punched in the gut several times and his heart felt very clenched. He didn’t know what to say. Cas sneaking out, looking very fancy, to meet a certain devilishly good-looking ex? What the hell was happening? He couldn’t think of a single thing to say and Cas obviously didn’t want to explain because he just proceeded to get ready. When he walked over to the door, Dean said: “Well see you.”  
Cas nodded and said “Bye, Dean.” And with that he closed the door behind him that Dean had left open in his confusion.  
This can’t be happening, thought Dean. This is just a misunderstanding, it isn’t what it looks like. He said for old time’s sake, they’re just meeting up for drinks and he’ll be home again in an hour. So he got into the kitchen grabbed a six-pack of beer out of the fridge and decided to wait in the living room until Cas came home. They needed to talk about this whole thing more. Dean sat down on the couch and when he attempted to open his first beer, he realized how much his fingers were shaking and he could only get the bottle open on his third try. There's gotta be an explanation for what Cas did today, he thought. He turned on the TV and zapped through all of the programmes trying to let his panic die down, but he couldn’t concentrate on anything. What if Balthazar wanted Cas back? Obviously he wanted him back, otherwise he never would have come here. This whole meeting-up for old time's sake is just an invention to get back together and why else would someone fly over from France just to see a person they broke up with three years ago. Dean’s thoughts went round in circles for the next 1 and a half hours while he quietly finished all his beers. He should be getting home if it was just a casual meeting for drinks, Dean mused. But Cas did not come home and even an hour later there was no sign of him. Dean grew restless and began drinking Whiskey at this point; he didn’t want to think anymore. Another hour later Dean went to bed, drunk, angry and angsty. He wouldn’t wait any longer for Cas to turn up and while he was drunk he would probably shout at him and that wouldn’t be good.  
In the morning Dean woke up with the mother of hangovers and immediately turned in pain from the light that came in through the window only to find that Cas’ side of the bed was empty. Oh god no, please no, he thought, heaving himself out of the bed, his head swimming, whether from alcohol or from panic he didn’t know. He went back into the living room seeing his empty six-pack and Whiskey bottle in addition to another empty bottle with the bonus of a snoring, passed out Cas on the couch. At least he’s here, thought Dean not knowing whether to puke out of happiness or from the hang-over.  
An hour later, after headache pills and three glasses of water, Dean felt good enough to make some breakfast for them. Cas still slept on the couch but when the smell of bacon and eggs hit his nostrils he woke up. Dean could hear him groaning and moving slowly over to the kitchen. He decided to be cool and not to let any of his panic and fears of last night show, but to talk about the situation calmly.  
“Rise and shine, Cassie” he beamed at Cas when he appeared in the doorway. Cas looked at him bleary-eyed and tired. “Good morning, Dean.” he sat down and grimaced in pain. Dean went over to give Cas some pills and water as well and damn, his hands were still shaking while he put them on the table. “Feel ready for some breakfast yet, or do you want me to hold your trenchcoat while you go puking in the bathroom?” He tried to find his useful teasingly cheerful tone but he sounded a little hollow. “No, I do not think I am gonna be sick.” said Cas. “Ok” said Dean, loading two plates with breakfast and putting them also down on the table. He sat down and started to eat slowly while his stomach felt better with every bite of food. He decided to just break the subject now. “Wanna tell me what happened yesterday and why you drank a liquor store?”  
“Those bottles weren’t all from me, Dean.”  
“I know, because I drank too. I wanted to wait for you, but you didn’t come home. How long were you out?”  
“I came home about a quarter past 1 and then I had a couple of drinks” said Cas.  
Dean counted in his head. Cas had left the house at around 6 pm so he had been with Balthazar for over 7 hours. Dean felt another strong hit in the stomach. Still he tried to be calm.  
“Ok, nothing wrong with having a drink, but would you like to tell me why Balthazar wanted to meet you? I mean, it’s a kinda long way from Paris to Stanford. Does he want to get back together with you or what?” Dean said the last thing jestingly.  
“I believe that is exactly what he wants” said Cas, downing his water.  
By this time the hit in the stomach felt all too familiar for Dean. The bits of food he had in his stomach now felt like acid. He couldn’t hold his knife and fork anymore because his hands were shaking so badly.  
“Should I be worried then?” he said and clasped his fingers to hide them from Cas.  
“There is no need for that” said Cas and got up. “I should clean myself up. I’m filthy” and with that he left the kitchen. Dean didn’t know what to think and stared at Cas’ untouched breakfast plate. That didn’t go so well. Obviously Cas didn’t want to talk about his outing with the cream-cheese eater but Dean still had questions. One was the most pressing and he went after Cas to pose this particular question. Cas was half finished undressing to get in the shower when Dean opened the door. He hardly noticed Cas’ body which had never happened before. Usually he stared admiringly at Cas whenever he had his shirt off and couldn’t leave his hands of him. Since his hands were shaking like mad since Balthazar had come between them he didn’t touch Cas but instead asked him: “How long will he be staying?”  
“He hasn’t informed me of his plans, but if you wish I can ask him over dinner tonight” said Cas indifferently getting in the shower.  
Dean heard him turning on the water behind the cubicle door while he closed the the one of the bathroom quietly.


	2. Chapter 2

Dean drove on. There was only one place on earth where he wanted to be right now. In an unconscious move he also chose the one place where Cas could surely find him. He drove towards Bobby and Crowley.  
While he was driving to Sacramento he had time to mull over what had happened. Cas had met Balthazar on that day and the whole week for either lunch or dinner, while Dean didn’t say anything, feeling like he was drowning.  
He drove on through the night listening to his favourite tapes. His music had always given him a sense of freedom and carelessness. But today he had no such luck. Thunderstruck by AC/DC just ended and the first line of a familiar song came out of the speakers.  
 _~Babe, I’m leaving, I must be on my way~_  
“Oh no” groaned Dean. Had be been high when he put that tape together? AC/DC followed by Styx, what the hell!  
Uncalled for the last half hour before he started driving came back into his head while he listened to the music and cringed in pain.  
Balthazar had turned up at their doorstep to pick Cas up for another dinner and something in Dean’s head snapped.  
“What the hell is this frog-eater doing here?” he said peering through the window as Balthazar exited his car.  
“Dean…” said Cas placatorily.  
But Dean just got angrier and angrier.  
“No, Cas. I’ve kept my mouth shut this whole week, even though you’re killing me, but this is just too much. I don’t want this douchebag in my house!”  
“It’s my house too, Dean.” said Cas quietly.  
“Damn it man, what is wrong with you?” shouted Dean.  
 _~Whenever I get weary and I've had enough~_  
“What are you doing with him all the time? Why don’t you ever tell me anything? Are you fucking him?”  
 _~feel like giving up~_  
“I can’t do this, Cas. Not like this. You and I, we’re good together.”  
 _~Giving me the courage and the strength I need~_  
“You ought to feel like that too”  
 _~Please believe that it’s true~_  
“I need you”  
 _~Babe, I love you~_  
Dean snapped out of his memory and reflected on the thing Cas had said after that. “I don’t expect you to understand, Dean.” What wasn’t he supposed to understand? Why Cas wanted to get back with his croissant-munching douchebag of an ex? Why he didn’t want to talk to Dean anymore? Didn’t he feel the same?  
 _~But I'll be lonely without you~_  
 _~And I'll need your love to see me through~_  
 _~Please believe me, my heart is in your hands~_  
 _~And I'll be missing you~_  
 _~Babe, I love you.~_  
Fuck this song, thought Dean while he turned out the car stereo.

  
He found Bobby in pajamas for once, which wasn’t surprising because he had reached his house at a quarter to 2 in the morning. Bobby was ready to grumble at the person disturbing them at this late hour but he was pleased and confused to see his adopted son on the threshold.  
“Man I need a drink”, was what Dean said instead of an hello squishing himself past Bobby and shuffling through to the kitchen. He didn’t even say "hi" to Crowley who just came down the stairs in a matching pajama to Bobby's.  
Bobby looked at his husband confused and alarmed.  
“You have any idea what’s going on with our boy?” said Bobby questioningly.  
“Not the faintest, probably something big.”  
“Why don’t I go talk to him and you call Sam and Gabe. I have this feelin’ we’re having a princess emergency on our hands here. Might as well get through to Cas as well, even though I’m sensin’ he’s the reason for our boy to be all cuckoo.”  
“Shall I break out the "Old Fuck You", Bobby my dearest?” said Crowley.  
“Might as well, you know how Dean can drink when he feels like it. I’m gonna get him drunk, maybe he’ll talk.”

 ________"I feel like this Balthazar has zapped us into a parallel universe where Cas doesn't even know me properly and is a whole different person” Dean said at a finishing note.  
Dean had talked, Bobby was surprised to find and even talked about how bad he felt throughout the whole business, saying he wasn’t good enough for Cas. This character trait in him Bobby had known ever since he and Sam came to live with them after their father died. They lost their mom early through a horrible accident after which their father had turned mad and lost all interest in his boys until a year after their mother’s death he had had an overdose of Tequila and did the best thing he could for his children by kicking the bucket. Bobby always thought he should have filled their father with a buckshot rather than trying to help him. He was in Lawrence to buy up some used cars to fix and sell when John cashed in his chips and the boys became orphans. He immediately went on to the authorities to adopt them which wasn’t easy for a single person, but he did it nonetheless. He took the boys with him to South Dakota which he only left because of the man who was probably now somewhere in the house calling together their family. Bobby wasn’t too keen on living in California, but here the people were more liberal minded and now their marriage which had effectually existed in feelings since the day they met was also acknowledged by the law and not just as a civil union like before. "It don’t matter, Bobby always said to Crowley, ain’t nothing but a different piece o’ paper." But deep within him, he knew that it mattered. He was very happy with his family even though it included sitting up with his older boy when he’d rather be sleeping and helping him with self esteem issues.  
“Ain’t nothing wrong with you boy, anyone should be lucky to have you in their life” said Bobby earnestly.  
“Thanks, Bobby” said Dean. It had helped him to talk about everything he had bottled up inside of him and now he felt empty and exhausted. He hadn’t had much sleep since the whole Balthazar _débâcle _and now he felt like falling asleep on the table and not waking up before the day after tomorrow. Bobby noticed this and helped Dean up the stairs into his old room, which ever since he and Cas got together he had shared with him when they all came to visit. Dean flinched a little at the memory of Cas in his bedroom but he was too exhausted to give much thought to anything. The last thing he heard was Bobby saying to him “It’ll all be alright in the morning”, just like he had said when Dean was little._____ _ _ _ _ _

Bobby left Dean and found Crowley in their bedroom just finishing a call to someone.  
“Hello sunshine, I gotta say Whiskey becomes your complexion just fine” said Crowley flirtingly.  
“Will you stop it?” grumbled Bobby. “What have you heard?” he said, exhaustedly letting himself fall into the bed.  
“I called Gabriel and he said we should wait for him and Sam to talk to Dean again. He knew something about a certain French Ex of Cas’ being in town because he had contacted him, too.”  
“Yeah, that’s just what Dean told me. Cas has been out with the french fry all last week and hasn’t talked to Dean about it. I don’t understand why he’s doing this. He’s crazy about Dean, why would he do that?”  
“Apparently, Gabriel can provide some insights on that matter when he and Sam get here. Anyhow, there is nothing we can do for the moment. I assume, the “Old Fuck You” has done it’s magic and turned our knight into sleeping beauty?”  
“Yeah, he’s sleeping like a baby and I should get to that too now, if you will stop your yappin’.”  
“Bobby you don’t need sleep to be a beauty.”  
“Shut it, now” said Bobby smilingly.  
Just before they both dozed off to sleep Bobby asked: “Did you call Cas?”  
“Of course I did. He’s glad Dean got here safely at least.”  
“Good, now really, shut it” Bobby said nestling against Crowley and both fell asleep almost instantly.


	3. Chapter 3

When Dean woke up he felt like he had been asleep for a day, which turned out to be almost the case. It was 6 pm and the sun was already starting to get lower. He felt a little better than in the days before and even felt a little hungry which he hadn’t been for the whole of last week. He went down the steps to find Sammy, Gabe, Crowley and Bobby all sitting in the kitchen talking to each other. From what he could hear they weren’t talking about him, which was a relief.  
“But moose, you really need to get a haircut before the big day, otherwise we’ll have to print Samantha Winchester on the invitation cards. Can’t have that, people would start talking, I’ll just get the scissors-”  
Dean came into the kitchen at that point, seeing Sam frantically trying to hide his hair from Crowley who had gone to the kitchen drawer and waggled the scissors in front of Sam as if he was trying to hypnotize him.  
Gabriel and Bobby sat at the table snickering about Sam’s terrified face and Crowley’s manic grin.  
Dean couldn’t help smiling, too. “Sammy you look like you’ve seen a clown.”  
Sam looked up to see his brother and came immediately over to hug him tightly, even though he avoided Crowley in a wide radius.  
“How are you doing, man?”  
“Just peachy”, said Dean smiling faintly and even though that wasn’t quite true, he really felt a whole lot better at seeing them all here.  
“Good to see you’re up and about again, son” said Bobby. “You must be starving. How about we get some cooking done, ey? Sam, Crowley you’re helpin’.”  
“Sure thing, Bobby, what do you want me to do?” asked Sammy diligently.  
“Really? Bobby light of my life, can’t I just go and do...some...stuff?” his voice grew faint towards the end of the sentence under Bobby’s menacingly growling look, which was obviously more effective than Crowley’s manic attempt at cutting Sam’s hair, because he went to get his apron without any further reluctance.  
“Why don’t you and I get on the veranda for a while, hey Deano?” said Gabriel. “If these three are working in the kitchen there is little enough space without us in the midst, because my darling Sammy is just too big for his own good.”  
Crowley opened his mouth at this point but Bobby, knowing what he wanted to say, gave him a smack with a dishcloth to stop him. “Not in front of the kids, love. You may spank me all you like when we’re alone" said Crowley teasingly.  
“I might take you up on that. I ain’t gonna take pity on you if you keep annoying me.” 

Gabriel led Dean out on the veranda and they sat down the the porch swing.  
“How are you doing?” said Gabriel without beating about the bush.  
“I’m alright now, though not really great.” said Dean. “I suppose Crowley called you?”  
“Yeah he did,” admitted Gabriel. “But I already knew that Balthazar was back in town because he called me, too. He wanted to meet me as well as Cassie. Obviously he's trying to get himself into our good books again. Not that he could, not after what he has done.”  
Dean was confused. “Cas told me he broke up with the _Bœuf bourguignon?” ___  
“Oh yes, he did, but only after Cas had caught him in a ménage à -what’s french for twelve?” asked Gabriel.  
“What?”  
“Yeah, the bastard broke darling Cassie’s heart. When he wanted to talk to him, Balthazar didn’t even listen and after that, Cas broke up with him. After that _the blue cheese _told him he could as well be dead, that's how likely it was that they would ever see each other again and then just stormed off back to his beret wearing people over on the other side of the pond. The psycho has some serious issues, even though he could be very charming at times" said Gabriel.__  
"I almost forgot that you know Cas even longer than I do.”  
“He is like a brother to me”, said Gabe earnestly and continued with, “you should know that Cas is crazy about you. When he first laid a hand on you he was lost and fell for you eternally. Cassie just hasn’t been able to talk about this with anyone properly, but there is no chance he will go back to Balthazar. I believe he is just looking for closure, now that he has the chance. You two should really talk about this again. It was a bit of a trauma for him, but I believe also that he needed to finish this business before he could open up to you. I need you to make this work again, I want only happiness surrounding me.” he said mockingly stern.  
"Apparently I also forgot how wise you can be," said Dean to his soon-to-be brother in law. "I can see that Sammy is with someone worthy of him." In an afterthought he added: "Someone who is also a control freak and a nerd."  
"That's just how it's gotta be" said Gabriel in a sing-song manner.  
Dean felt much better now that he had talked to Gabriel about the whole situation and knew a bit more about the business.

They sat there in mutual silence for a while and just watched the sun go fully down, when suddenly Castiel appeared on the front porch. Dean’s heart felt like it skipped at least a dozen beats while Cas came closer.  
“Hello, Dean” he said.  
“Hey, Cas” Dean replied.  
Gabriel stood up and turned to go into the house while he excused himself with: “I’d better go check up on my fiance to see if Crowley has got his paws on his glorious mane.” he winked at Dean before he closed the door.  
Cas said down and looked at Dean with a very sad expression.  
“I’m sorry, Dean.”  
“For what?”  
“For everything. The way I acted towards you was abominable.”  
“Yes it was.”  
“I owe you an explanation-” Cas started, but suddenly Dean felt like he didn’t need to hear it.  
“Leave it Cas, Gabe has told me everything that the bastard did to you. I get it.”  
“Really?”  
“Yeah, your taste in man, apart from me of course, is real bad.” Obviously Dean had found his confidence in himself again somewhere between opening his heart to Bobby and talking with Gabriel.  
“You must know that it is far from me to ever do anything to hurt you deliberately, but now I have done that and I am sorry with all my heart. Without you I would still be the man who was hopelessly dependent on an emotionally unavailable french playboy. You are right, Dean, we are good together, we belong. It is all my fault that it ever came to this. I should have talked to you sooner, I guess I was just too afraid. Seeing Balthazar again washed up a lot of old emotions and I was really lost at times, particularly after I first went to see him.”  
“Yeah, we really binged that night, didn’t we?” said Dean, trying to lighten the mood a little, but Cas obviously hadn’t finished yet.  
“I believe I drank, to not feel the old wounds again and not to reactivate the trauma that I developed after the failure of my last relationship. I was so self-absorbed that I hardly realized I was hurting you so badly with my behaviour. I can’t believe I pushed you away so foolishly. I don’t know how I can ever make it up to you.”  
Dean looked at Cas with the same expression he had looked upon him before the whole escalation and said to him: “Well we only have the rest of our lives for that.” He took Cas’ hand. It would take them a while to get back to the place they were in before but they both knew that they belonged together forever. 

A little while later the whole family sat down to dinner, which Bobby had prepared with the help of a still long-haired Sam and the sassy comments of his husband, who had again done as little as possible in terms of preparing food. Cas was very changed in comparison to a week ago and could talk freely about the whole business. It seemed like Gabriel had been right all along, he had needed closure and now he had it.  
“There is one thing I don’t really understand, Cas” said Bobby.  
“Yes?”  
“Why did you have to spend so much time with the idjit, I mean what did you talk about that took so long, you ain’t the chattiest guy I never met.”  
“Mostly I just listened and watched Balthazar squirm whenever I brought up why we broke up. I don’t understand what I thought so charming about him at first and the longer the meetings went he more and more realized that I wasn’t the same man he ensnared so easily back in the day. I tried to look my best and also show him that I wasn’t interested in him because I found something much better than I ever had with him. He started to get desperate when he realized he couldn’t manipulate my emotions anymore and turned red in the face whilst spitting french curses. It was hilarious.” The last thing Cas said just like Dean would have done.  
Crowley cleared his throat and stood up to make a toast: “Well, my darlings, let’s all leave behind the _affaire de merde _. I’m christening this unexpected family dinner: The French Ex - a Mistake, or for short The French Mistake. It was a mistake for him to ever show his face here again and to mess with my boys. Not even my flattering can convince our Cassie to run away with me and lie around in the Mexican sun eating Guacamole. Since this prospect isn’t appealing to our dear boy, I can safely say, there is nothing that can come between Dean and Cas what they don’t want there. Cheers!”__

____When everybody had gone home Crowley said: “Alone at last. Wasn’t there something you wanted to do to me, when we had the time?”  
“Yeah there was something and I believe I also have some homemade Guacamole somewhere”, said Bobby pulling Crowley close to plant a big kiss on his lips that promised of more to come._ _ _ _

____Dean and Cas got home in just under two hours. Dean had been a bit afraid of going back home, but he found that he and Cas clicked just like they used to and life could be getting back to normal in no time. That was even more obvious by the fact, that when Cas attempted to change into his pajamas the sight of Cas’ naked shoulders had just the same effect it had ever had on Dean and the both of them did not fall asleep for a long time and if Dean’s hands, along with his whole body, were shaking this time, it had completely different reasons._ _ _ _


End file.
